Kowal zawinił, Cygana powiesili

Meaning:

Lit. “it’s the blacksmith who’s guilty, but they hung the Gypsy”. You use this expression to point at an injustice and suggest that a person or an institution with more power (social, financial or political) got away with their wrongdoing while another actor with much less influence took the blame and was punished.

The source of this saying is obviously with an important role wealthy smiths have played in rural Poland while travelling Roma traditionally being outcasts and blamed for whatever crime happened while they were around.

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Sprzedać kosę

Meaning:

Lit. “to sell a scythe” which translates into cutting somebody with a knife. The expression comes from criminal slang which has referred to knives as scythes for at least half a century now. Anyone using this expression either has a criminal background or wants make such an impression badly – which is especially true for some rappers or football hooligans who normally tend to be ordinary or even good boys but feel to appear as grim reapers from time to time.

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